Hot answers tagged hardware-rec
22
If you want to go low-level and aren't afraid of DOS/Unix applications, I've found MHDD and SmartUDM, available on Hiren's Boot CD and UBCD next to other great tools (scroll down to see a list).
If you prefer using something with a GUI there is HD Tune, which comes in a free and a pro version.
Or when you use Linux, there is the combination of ...
19
I use a normal keyboard at work, and have one of these fancy keyboards at home. I can touchtype with the same speed on both of them.
When you do switch between different keyboards after extended periods (laptop v/s regular, for example) it does take a little time to get used to they key placement, but within a few minutes of typing, you will get used to it ...
14
Two weeks is hardly an extended period of time :-)
Get yourself one of those 12 V DC - 220 V AC adapters. They are not part of the usual equipment that charters come with (or privately owned sailboats), but they're worth having. Very useful for charging all kind of electronic devices for which you haven't got special adapters. That takes care of ...
12
Ram is the cheapest and best "bang for your buck" performance gain.
The l2 cache is built onto the processor, so that would go directly with the processor choice.
Processor can make a big difference depending on the type of work you do. A quick performance gain these days is to make sure you get a dual-core processor. Games will require a good video card ...
9
TL;DR answer: A video card upgrade is usually limited to the amount of power available from the PSU after subtracting your system's current power consumption.
I won't give a specific shopping recommendation here, as that's likely to be less useful than the general advice I'm giving here. In the following text, I am assuming that you cannot or are not ...
8
I have a Linksys WRT310N, which has 4 ports of Gig-E and Draft-N WiFi. The antennae are internal, which looks nice. It can run the open source firmwares like DD-WRT. See this wiki article for some details.
$95 from Newegg
7
Dedicated devices can be very expensive.
If you have a few days, I would personally just use your own copier and "just do it" as boring as it is.
A solution in the middle is to use a company who can do the copying for you - (You are USA from profile so you are best off googling yourself) I just found a few companies in the UK willing to do DVD copying in ...
7
SilentPCReview, which Strop mentioned above, maintains an occasionally-updated list of their recommended case fans. Obviously you can only do so much with 80 mm fans.
They also have a list of recommended heatsinks, but I've found that you need to do more of your own research in this area, simply because there are so many brands and models to choose from ...
7
I realize this question was asked quite a while ago...
I've had very good luck with a pair of WRT320N routers running DD-WRT. Got them refurbished & I've been punishing both of them ever since I brought them home & loaded them with DD-WRT.
There is a very good thread regarding DD-WRT & the WRT320N, if you go this route be sure to read it.
...
7
We've also been looking for these for a long time, but no one made a USB 3.0 until just this year. We ended up buying some adapters from this place http://www.usb3gigabit.com/.
But we needed them for a different purpose - we don't do virtualization but needed to add second full gigabit port to the laptops we send out to be used as network diagnostics ...
6
There are really three options: Building, buying custom, buying pre-configured.
If you measure the cost of components only, generally the cheapest option is to buy pre-configured as the large companies can buy components very much more cheaply than you or I can.
Otherwise it is complete up to you based on your ability, interest, aptitude, etc.
If you have ...
6
PCI/PCI-Express (aka PCI-E) slots let you install expansion cards.
Expansion cards give your computer additional capabilities. Some very common expansion cards were sound cards, 56k modems, and Ethernet adapters. You don't have to populate your PCI/PCI-E slots, but it is an option if you need to extend your hardware.
Since the introduction of the PC in ...
6
Yes, it's possible to watch TV in a window. All modern tuners and their associated software should be capable of this, whether it's a PCI card or a USB device. Needless to say, you will need a reasonably modern PC to avoid any performance issues or jerkiness. If you have Windows Media Centre, e.g. on Vista Home Premium then you can use that as your viewing ...
6
Coding Horror has an awsome post on how to make a PC quieter
Which includes
Minimize the number of fans in your system
Control the speed of your fans
Dampen your hard drive
Use noise-reduction materials.
Starting with the right parts helps a lot.
For specific items, http://www.silentpcreview.com is a good place to find information.
6
Depends on your battery's chemistry, but assuming LiIon, most recommendations I've read have included:
not running it all the way down (unlike NiCad chemistries that got "lazy" if they weren't run from full-charge to discharge).
leaving it at ~ 40% charge if it will be out of use for long periods
keeping it cool (e.g. remove i if you tend to mostly use the ...
6
I recommend doing the following to optimize battery life:
Keep my battery as cool as possible.
Don't worry about whether it's plugged in or not. When it doubt, keep it plugged in so it uses AC power instead of battery, unless of course it's getting hot.
It turns out that the two methods I originally posited are largely moot. The only thing that really ...
6
Yes, Mac OS X chews up RAM. I would highly recommend getting 4 GB for maximum performance. Also, the RAM is soldered onto the board, so once you buy you are stuck with what you get. For this reason, it's very strange that Apple is even shipping it with 2 GB. It's only $100 and it future proofs your Mac. Get it.
6
It isn't the most beautiful thing in the world, but it can be attached to a key ring and will definitely last you a long time. The Corsair 16GB Survivor was built with durability in mind:
Encased in extremely strong CNC-milled, anodized aircraft-grade
aluminum.
Water resistant to 200M through the use of a EPDM waterproof seal.
Protected from ...
6
Either machine will do the job. The larger cache will mean the CPU will more often be able to get the data it's working on from cache, rather than having to reach out to slower RAM. How much difference will that make? That depends on the programs you run, but it's unlikely to make a huge difference on average. The faster FSB means that when the CPU does ...
6
I think you need to be looking at something like this bulk CD duplicator (UK site), which from the images look like they've got multiple CD/DVD burners in a tower case.
At just under £300 it's not hideously expensive and would probably save you a whole swathe of time.
There are 1 to 7 and 1 to 11 copiers available too, but these are (obviously) more ...
5
ReadyBoost is a reading file cache, it is not an extension of virtual memory, that is based on the fact Flash memory has effectively zero seek time to cache small files (because Flash memory is also slower at sustained write that you HDD).
What ReadyBoost also does is provide more space for the Windows Super Fetch function, if you don't have any ReadyBoost ...
5
You might find this a funny answer But seriously.
Get a good seating position. (not an expensive chair)
Most important in the whole ergonomics of a desk job is regular movement(don't be a zombie but change your position)
For the rest, all ergonomics are standard things that have been said before everywhere. And pretty much everybody knows in the back of ...
5
It seems like N is still up and coming. Possible candidates, all Linksys:
WRT350N seems decent but a few people have had to buy a RAM heatsink to stick on the processor to prevent overheating
WRT600N looks good but I think it's discontinued
WRT150N is seems to have the least issues and is stable but I think it's discontinued. This is perhaps the cheapest ...
5
For a period of time, I used a sony vaio tx that has a 11.1" lcd with 1366x768 resolution. 1 hour into working with it, my eyes started to tear, and I just told my colleagues that I was crying because i was broke and had no money for lunch. :)
1440x900 is a good resolution for a 15", trust me on that. Make sure the notebook has DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort out so ...
5
The faster the clock speed the better (assuming your motherboard supports that high of a speed, which yours seems to), but such a small difference will hardly be noticeable I think. The bottleneck is very rarely the memory, so I wouldn't recommend really even looking at the clock speed. Mine is only 400 MHz and I'm doing just fine on Crysis with full ...
5
First of all I would STRONGLY discourage you from getting that CPU at all costs. They are overpriced (still) and extremely obsolete.
LGA stands for Land Grid Array and refers to the socket type. LGA has the pins on the motherboard not the CPU.
PLGA is Plastic Land Grid Array and refers to how the core is integrated into the rest of the CPU. You don't need ...
5
If they're both the exact same model, then yes, very likely.
If they're different models, but from the same series, then it might be doable, but depends on the exact models. For instance, the motherboards of certain ThinkPad T60 and T61 models are identical, and swapping in a T61 motherboard is a popular modification for the T60.
If they're from different ...
4
Yes, a laptop hard drive can be used in a desktop computer.
You need to buy a Hard Drive Adapter that allows you to build your 2.5 hard drive into your desktop tower. And possibly you'll need a SATA III cable. Make sure one of your hard drive bays is free, too.
If your computer is fairly recent, you will probably need just a SATA cable. If it is older and ...
4
I'm going to say the battery is most likely the culprit with BIOS settings not being remembered.
You'll need to push the metal panels sideways and then the battery should just pop out (seen at 12 and 6'0 Clock position in the circle below.). Take necessary measures to protect against electrostatic discharge and avoid killing the motherboard.
4
TL;DR: If you're serious about broadcasting, yes, they will help!
Here's the main problem: The sound "cards" included in motherboards of typical PCs or laptops are of rather bad quality. Here are some drawbacks:
They might lack shielding, thus picking up interferences from the surrounding hardware
You can't connect a professional microphone to them. ...
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